Invalidity dossier
US 5485634
Method and system for the dynamic selection, allocation and arbitration of control between devices within a region
Current assignee: Xerox Corp
Added 9/24/2026, 1:34:17 AM
Active provider: DeepSeek · deepseek-flash
Patent summary
Title, assignee, inventors, filing/issue dates, abstract, and a plain-language overview of the claims.
Patent Overview — US5485634A
Title: Method and system for the dynamic selection, allocation and arbitration of control between devices within a region.
Patent number / application: US5485634A; application US08/166,478.
Assignee: Xerox Corp (original assignee). Inventors listed: Mark D. Weiser, Richard J. Goldstein, Roy Want, Brent B. Welch, Scott A. Elrod, David A. Maltz, William N. Schilit, Marvin M. Theimer.
Key dates: Priority/filing date 1993-12-14; publication (grant) date 1996-01-16; anticipated expiration 2013-12-14. Status listed as "Expired - Lifetime."
Purpose. The patent addresses control of devices in a "ubiquitous computing" environment, where rooms may contain many computers and where devices divide into broad classes of controllers and resources. The stated aim is a method and system by which mobile, remote, adaptable controllers can dynamically control a multitude of resources within a given region (e.g., a room), with policies determined for the region, controllers, and resources arbitrated so as to create a conducive work environment for users in the region. The disclosed invention is intended to avoid a "greedy" user monopolizing resources while others sit idle.
Plain-language scope. A controller makes itself known as available; the system finds the most suitable resource among those seeking controllers, attaches it to the controller, and configures the controller so a user can control that resource—while enforcing region policy. The description covers a "manual" mode, an automatic "mobile controller seeks resource" mode, and an automatic "resource seeks mobile controller" mode, singly or in combination. A suitability matrix is employed to determine the most suitable resource for a request. A single controller may suffice across many resources, and control may be assumed automatically or by user request as a user moves room to room. Whether a device is a controller or a resource is described as context dependent.
Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/[US5485634](/patent/US5485634)/en
What this excerpt does not establish: the full claim language and its exact metes and bounds; the complete written description; the identity or content of specific prior-art references; the details of the figures; and the legal effect of the listed assignments, security interests, and releases (the source itself notes legal status is an assumption, not a legal conclusion).
Generated 10/1/2026, 9:31:19 PM
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Litigation summary
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Proceedings on file (0)
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PTAB challenges
AIA trial proceedings at the USPTO Patent Trial and Appeal Board — IPR, PGR, and CBM. Petitioners, judge panels, claim-level invalidation outcomes from Final Written Decisions, and Federal Circuit appeals. The single most important defensive datapoint after litigation history.
Assignment history
Inventors, original assignee, and the chain of ownership recorded with the USPTO — including the correspondent attorney who recorded each assignment, since shell-LLC chains often share one repeat-player attorney even when the entity names look unrelated. Surfaces NPE / patent-troll patterns: shell-entity transfers, known asserters in the chain, repeat correspondent fingerprints, pre-litigation assignments, and bankruptcy fire-sales.
Prior art
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Obviousness
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Extensions
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Derivative works
Defensive disclosure: derivative variations of each claim designed to render future incremental improvements obvious or non-novel.